


Happy Birthday, Happy Accident

by darkmus



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Angst, Birthday, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Silly, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-25
Updated: 2011-10-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmus/pseuds/darkmus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was not the birthday present Seto was expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, Happy Accident

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SETO!  
> October 25, 2011
> 
>  
> 
> Though we [don't have concrete proof of Seto's birth year](http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Seto_Kaiba#year_of_birth), using the speculated date, he should be about 31 this year. ^^

For his 31st birthday, Seto Kaiba wasn't expecting anything special. The milestone of his 30th birthday was gone, along with the ridiculously large surprise party Mokuba had thrown for him. After all the decorations were swept away, Seto had insisted that no more parties were to be held and Mokuba had responded affirmatively - with the exception of other milestone birthdays. Seto had reluctantly allowed this, hoping that this meant the next large party would be on his 40th birthday - a long enough time for him to prepare and/or dissuade his brother from holding a party to celebrate it.

In light of their agreement, Mokuba had kept the celebration this year simple - just the two of them, a nice dinner and only one, un-obtuse present (or so Seto thought).

"I got you something special this year," Mokuba said excitedly. He handed his brother a plain manila envelope. "Go on! Open it!"

Seto gave an amused grin to his brother's excitement and lifted the metal fasteners on the envelope. It seemed to be some sort of documents on heavy paper, so he just slid out the first page half-way out of the envelope.

It was a picture of Joey.

Seto's head shot up to stare at his brother, his eyes wide. Mokuba smiled at him. "I hope you like them. It took a while to round them up."

Speechless and quite embarrassed, he shoved the picture back into the envelope.

"I actually ordered some blown-up versions of them, so we can hang them up around the house. But the print shop has been pretty overwhelmed and they say it'll be a while."

Seto tried to find his words. "Uh..." was all he managed to say.

"Happy birthday, big brother!"

He nodded, still a bit dumbstruck. What the hell was his brother thinking? Did he know--

"But anyway. I gotta get going; Rebecca's already waiting up for me. We have to get up early 'cause we're checking out that new housing development tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah."

"Okay! I'll see you later!" His brother bounded up and gave him a quick, happy hug before leaving the room.

"Bye..."

Seto sat in his chair, staring at the wall, trying to figure out how his brother had assembled such an unusually enticing present.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

Later that night Seto made his way to his room, envelope in tow. He sat down on the bed. His mind was still reeling. His brother couldn't have possibly known what this present meant to him.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Seto picked up his birthday present, cautiously opening it up and sliding a couple pictures out.

The first, which he had seen earlier, was a head-shot of Joey. He stared at it for a while, taking in the sight of the blond's smiling face. He swallowed hard and looked at the next one.

The second was Joey posing next to a motorcycle with a smug smirk on his face and a defiant look in his eyes. He was wearing a tight biker's outfit that hugged all the right places. Seto couldn't help but noting that this was the look he had always enjoyed seeing on the blond's face.

The third... the third was Joey - half naked, arms raised above his head, in low slung jeans - standing in front of some aquarium with exotic fish swimming lazily inside.

And suddenly, Seto's mouth was very dry.

He quickly flipped the pictures face-down on his bed.

What the hell was his brother thinking?!

The envelope slid off his lap and onto the floor. A couple more pictures fell out along with a sheet of paper. Seto picked it up. It was a cover letter of some sort.

 _Dear Ms. Hollingsworth,_  
It was great speaking to you last week. As I said before, I have enclosed some photos from my portfolio. I am looking forward to the agency's response with regards to this modeling opportunity.  
Sincerely,  
Joey Wheeler

Seto stared at the letter for a long time.

Had he received this envelope by mistake? It sure looked that way.

He picked up the other photos that had fallen out of the envelope.

"Oh..."

They were more pictures of Joey, in the same state of dress (or undress, one could say) as the third photo.

Seto looked up, scanning the room, unsure of what to do. His pants were slightly uncomfortable.

_I should return this._

He gripped the pictures possessively, eyes flicking across the top-most photo, examining the strong muscles of Joey's arms, chest, and abs. He wasn't quite sure if he was drooling of not.

_But I don't even know where they came from._

_I could ask Mokuba..._

_But they're so--_

_Give them back._

He let out a deep sigh at the growling conscience in his head and gathered the photos up, stuck them back into the envelope, and closed it with the metal fasteners.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

The next day, after a fitful night of sleep and dreams he'd rather not admit to anyone else, Seto went about researching all the print shops around the area, particularly looking for ones capable of creating large, wall sized photos.

Luckily, there was only one nearby and he made his way there during his lunch break.

As Mokuba had explained, the shop did indeed look haphazard and rushed. Seto wondered how they even managed to stay operational and could very much see how they could have switched the photo order.

With a look of disgust on his face, he rang a little bell on the checkout counter strewn with new orders.

A harried employee rushed over.

"Excuse me," Seto asked with much more patience than he actually felt, "I believe I did not receive an order."

"Oh! Seto Kaiba!" the employee recognized immediately. "Ah... yes. Well, we've been quite busy you see..." Flustered, he booted up the computer and looked up the order.

"Uh... it looks like that an order was picked up... by a Mokuba Kaiba."

"I think you must be mistaken, because we didn't receive any such order. If we did get it, do you really think I'd be wasting my time here?"

"Uh... no." The clerk swallowed nervously. "Uh. Let me check out back. Excuse me for a moment."

Seto rolled his eyes as the print shop employee ran out of the room. There was a slight crashing sound, a curse, and then the clerk miraculously made his way back to the counter with an envelope in his hands.

"So sorry! You're right; the order was still back there."

He set it on the counter and entered the order in the computer. "We're still not ready with the blown-up photos, but we're working on it." He swallowed nervously. "Uh... the package total will be $190."

Seto glared at him and the clerk nearly wilted. The young CEO handed him his credit card and the clerk quickly rang him up and eagerly handed him the envelope. Slightly bowing his head, the clerk gave an uneasy smile. "Thank you for your business. Uh... the blown-up photos should be ready in about a week."

Seto snorted and left.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

When he got back to the office, Seto opened up the _correct_ envelope and slid out its contents. They were pictures of their gang, laughing and smiling. There were a couple group photos from his last birthday as well.

This made _much_ more sense that the photos of Joey - which were currently hidden in the recesses of his nightstand.

Seto had realized at some point early that morning that it would have been more embarrassing to return them to the print shop, though his feelings about the photos may have also helped in the decision to keep them as well. He also had to admit that he really wanted to keep the misplaced order.

He was more reluctant to admit, however, his true feelings for the blond, at least out loud. He'd always known that this unconventional attraction wouldn't really go anywhere - especially if one observed their past history. He wasn't sure were it started exactly, but before long he realized his feelings for Joey went well beyond the point of a simple attraction. He knew deep in his heart that Joey would never return his affections, so he had kept it hidden from everyone - even Mokuba, the one person he had ever felt close to. To complete the illusion, he continued to mock the blond every chance he got - and it became into a treasured habit.

These photos he had received by mistake only added fuel to the fire.

He sighed.

What was he going to do?

He placed the envelope of photos to the side of his desk and booted up his laptop to work on some figures for Kaiba Corp.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

That night, Seto pulled out the photos of Joey from his nightstand to look at them once more. He sighed. Joey looked _so_ good.

Lying back on his bed, he closed his eyes.

What was he even doing? This romance would never amount to anything he reminded himself, as he had so much confirmed last year at his surprise birthday party.

 

Seto had nearly finished making his rounds of thanking all the guests - a begrudgingly accepted task requested by his brother - when he noticed Joey was sitting at an empty table, apparently taking a break from the dance floor.

Trying to ignore the blatant butterflies forming in his stomach, he somehow calmly strode to the blond.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Seto asked, towering over him.

"Uh, yeah. You guys always throw awesome parties," Joey said, munching on a small eclair. As it disappeared into Joey's mouth, Seto couldn't help but think of how phallic it looked.

They were alone and Seto felt a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He firmly clamped down on it by squeezing the stem of his champagne flute harder than necessary to control his feelings. It was quite hard to do.

Feeling a bit awkward just standing above Joey, he decided to sit down, his judgement sightly impaired from all the drinks he'd had earlier to relax. He was more than a little bit tipsy and he wasn't sure if the blood rushing to his face was from the alcohol or something else entirely. He hoped Joey would chalk it up to the former.

He stared at Joey intently while the blond finished his dessert. As he watched Joey watch the dancing crowd, Seto found his eyes wandering across Joey's messy blond hair, down the smooth skin of his neck, and along his cheek, taking in each aspect of Joey's profile and storing them away for a later date. He wanted more than anything to reach across the short distance between them and kiss him.

Just then, Joey turned back to him and Seto had noticed how Joey had noticed him staring and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Seto somehow reigned in his feelings and leaned back in his own chair. He downed the rest of his champagne.

He saw Joey wince.

Then, someone had called out to Joey and he had left, excusing himself politely.

Seto had tried so hard to ignore the aching feeling in his heart. He tried not to feel how much he wanted Joey. He tried not to feel anything.

Eventually he got up and went to Mokuba saying that he would retire early, giving the excuse of a headache.

His brother had been a bit disappointed, but asked the party to break up soon after.

He remembered lying in bed as the party's boisterous noise faded away into the night and trying fruitlessly to go to sleep.

 

Opening his eyes, Seto sighed.

What was he going to do with the photos?

The guilt of holding the photos hostage had caught up with him.

If he didn't return them to the print shop, perhaps he could forward them to its intended recipient. The letter _had_ included Ms. Hollingsworth's contact details. It had been dated with his birthday, so Seto deduced that the modeling agency must have been expecting it soon.

As much as he wanted to, it wouldn't be fair to keep the photos, not if he was holding up a job application.

The logical - and perhaps noble - thing to do was to send the package  
as much as he'd hate to see it go.

Well... perhaps he could save a copy of the photos before handing them in.

Bolting up, he grabbed the envelope and headed to his computer booting it up and connecting his scanner to it. He set the scanner to its largest resolution setting - which was quite high - and as each photo was captured Seto's heart pounded in his chest, knowing just how much this action was some sort of breach of privacy.

He saved them in a nondescript folder with a sense of guilty satisfaction and went to bed.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

The next morning, he brought the envelope to work with him. He placed it within another envelope and labeled it and placed a confidential "to be opened by the addressee only" sticker across the opening to seal it.

Then he buzzed his secretary for a courier. She sent in one of their interns.

"I need you to send this to Aurum Model Management within the hour. Consider this highly urgent."

"Yessir!"

The excitable young man gladly accepted the envelope and ran out the door.

Now that it was taken care of, Seto go to work.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

The next day there was shouting outside his office.

"Sir! You can't go in there; you don't have an appointment--!"

"Too bad! I gotta talk to Kaiba RIGHT. NOW."

"Sir!"

The door rattled and then violently swung open.

"WHAT THE HELL!" shouted a very irate blond, storming into his office. A flustered secretary followed in his wake.

He dismissed his secretary with a wave. "I'll deal with this," Seto said firmly as Joey stomped his way towards his desk. She gladly and quickly left, shutting the door behind her.

"Are you trying to ruin my career?" Joey yelled.

"No! Why would I?" Seto shot back against the accusation.

"Then why did you keep my pics for an entire week? The agency was been waiting for them. I almost didn't get the gig!"

Seto's mouth opened and closed as he tried to find words to defend himself.

"Yeah. And do you know how I knew if was you? Because the agency said some guy handed it to them in person, _the day of the deadline_ , saying it was from MR. KAIBA."

 _I am going to fire that idiot._ Seto thought furiously.

"Well, why did you keep them?!" Joey asked impatiently.

"I... just..." he said angrily, grasping at straws against the accusation. The words were not finding their way to Seto's mouth at all.

"Wanted to keep them?" Joey finished with disbelieving mirth.

Seto looked away.

Joey gaped at him.

"Seto..."

Seto's eyes widened a bit as he heard Joey use his first name. But then again, he'd done it before, just not very often. It shouldn't have been surprising; they had known each other for 20 years now... He swallowed.

"It doesn't matter. It got to them, right?" he growled, trying to dampen his frustration. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to to--"

Joey grabbed his arm.

"How long?"

"How long what?" Seto snapped angrily.

Joey stared at him and as Seto looked into his brown eyes, his resolve faded. Joey's eyes told him everything. Joey had figured it out. After all these years...

He swallowed before answering.

"... too long."

Joey snorted and smiled in disbelief.

Letting go of Seto's arm, Joey brought his hand up to touch Seto's cheek. Seto swallowed hard and suddenly a wave of nervousness overtook his body.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Would you have listened?"

"You'd be surprised," said Joey softly.

Then, he closed this distance between them and kissed Seto on the lips. Seto's eyes went wide before gently shutting, his mouth finding its way deeper into the kiss.

When they pulled away Joey laughed.

"Happy belated birthday."

Seto smiled in disbelief before bringing Joey in close and holding him tight.


End file.
